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<h1 align="center"><span class="pagetitle">About Aural Properties</span><br>
<font size=2>= <span class="sitetitle">Index DOT Css</span> by <a 
href="../../misc/email.htm">Brian Wilson</a> =</font></h1>

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<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">Aural Properties</b></big>
    <dd><a href="aural/volume.htm">volume</a> |
        <a href="aural/stress.htm">stress</a> |
        <a href="aural/richness.htm">richness</a> |
        <a href="aural/azimuth.htm">azimuth</a> |
        <a href="aural/elevation.htm">elevation</a><br>
        <a href="aural/voicefam.htm">voice-family</a> |
        <a href="aural/speak.htm">speak</a> |
        <a href="aural/speakpunc.htm">speak-punctuation</a> |
        <a href="aural/speaknum.htm">speak-numeral</a><br>
        <a href="aural/pitch.htm">pitch</a> |
        <a href="aural/pitchrange.htm">pitch-range</a> |
        <a href="aural/speakrate.htm">speech-rate</a> |
        <a href="aural/playdur.htm">play-during</a><br>
        <a href="aural/pause.htm">pause</a> |
        <a href="aural/pausebef.htm">pause-before</a> |
        <a href="aural/pauseaft.htm">pause-after</a><br>
        <a href="aural/cue.htm">cue</a> |
        <a href="aural/cuebef.htm">cue-before</a> |
        <a href="aural/cueaft.htm">cue-after</a>
</dl>

<br>
<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">What Do They Do?</b></big>
    <dd>The rendering of document content using speech synthesis and sound effects
        is fundamentally different from content rendered for visual consumption.
        There is no concept of font size, intrinsic visual size to an element
        or even a visual canvas where elements may exist in relation to one another.
        <br><br>

        Crude aural rendering of document content is currently possible through
        serialization of text content by screen readers. Stripping down content to
        this level loses most of a document's structure, and ignores many document
        components outright. The Aural CSS properties introduce the concept of an
        aural canvas, where elements are rendered over time, with positioning properties
        existing in a three-dimensional soundstage around the user, and white-space
        interpreted as silence. Styling and emphasis are applied to an element through
        the use of volume, pitch, vocal stress and "auditory icons", which cue the
        listener to content that is intended to stand apart from other content.
        <br><br>

        While these properties <em>can</em> augment visual rendering, it is only the tip
        of an iceberg - there will be cases where documents can <em>only</em> be rendered
        aurally. In these cases, the power allowed by these properties becomes obvious.
        These properties allow powerful interfaces to information for a wide range of
        needs: easier accessibility for special visual needs and impairments, educational
        teaching tools and reading aids, as well as 'hands-off' information access
        (eg: retrieving directions while driving a car.) The market for this sort of
        rendered content is expected to grow considerably in the future.
        <br><br>

        These properties were incorporated into CSS2, but were first detailed in the W3C
        note "Aural presentation with CSS style sheets"
        (<a href="http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Speech/NOTE-ACSS">http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Speech/NOTE-ACSS</a>,
        January 7, 1997) edited by Chris Lilley. The properties and aural canvas of ACSS
        detailed in this note were mainly adapted from proposals by T.V. Raman of Adobe.
</dl>

<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">CSS 2.1 - a change of feature status</b></big>
    <dd>A few major changes to aural CSS have occurred in CSS 2.1. All properties 
        relating to aural CSS, along with specific units relating to ACSS have all 
        been moved to a separate appendix (appendix A). Spec-wise, this means that 
        ACSS is not "officially" part of the basic CSS 2.1 feature set - a browser 
        that supports all features of CSS2.1 barring ACSS may still call itself 
        fully CSS 2.1 conformant. The "aural" media type is also deprecated in 
        favor of the "speech" media type.
</dl>

<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">Related Sites</b></big>
<dt><b class="subheading">Official Reference: CSS Level 2, Section 19</b>
    <dd>19.2: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#volume-props">volume</a>'<br>
        19.8: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#voice-char-props">stress</a>'<br>
        19.8: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#voice-char-props">richness</a>'<br>
        19.7: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#spatial-props">azimuth</a>'<br>
        19.7: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#spatial-props">elevation</a>'<br>
        19.8: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#voice-char-props">voice-family</a>'<br>
        19.3: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#speaking-props">speak</a>'<br>
        19.9: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#speech-props">speak-punctuation</a>'<br>
        19.9: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#speech-props">speak-numeral</a>'<br>
        19.8: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#voice-char-props">pitch</a>'<br>
        19.8: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#voice-char-props">pitch-range</a>'<br>
        19.8: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#voice-char-props">speech-rate</a>'<br>
        19.6: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#mixing-props">play-during</a>'<br>
        19.4: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#pause-props">pause</a>'<br>
        19.4: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#pause-props">pause-before</a>'<br>
        19.4: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#pause-props">pause-after</a>'<br>
        19.5: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#cue-props">cue</a>'<br>
        19.5: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#cue-props">cue-before</a>'<br>
        19.5: '<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/aural.html#cue-props">cue-after</a>'<br>
</dl>

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